The old saw that "everything is bigger in Texas" is sometimes a dumb brag. One area we are the biggest in is the number of uninsured children. One in five children in this state is uninsured. These are not the children of people on the welfare roles as a recent Families USA report shows.
The Families USA report, titled "Left Behind: Texas's Uninsured Children," spotlights the following facts about uninsured children in the state:
1.4 million children are uninsured in Texas-more than one of out five, or 20.5 percent of Texas's children.These numbers place Texas first in the nation for the number of uninsured children, and first nationally for the percentage of children in the state without health insurance.
The number of uninsured children in Texas increased by nearly 33,400 between the three-year period 2003-2005 and the three-year period 2005-2007, and is likely to continue to grow due to the financial crisis.
Texas's uninsured children come from working families. In Texas, the vast majority of uninsured children (89.5 percent) come from families where at least one parent works, and nearly three-quarters of uninsured children-or 73.9 percent-live in households where at least one family member works full-time, year-round.
Nearly two-thirds of Texas's uninsured children, or 65.7 percent, come from low-income families (families with incomes below twice the poverty level, or $35,200 for a family of three in 2008) who are likely eligible for Medicaid or CHIP.
The majority of Texas republicans seem to think this situation is fine. Our illustrious governor and jaded legislature have turned down federal matching funds for increasing the expansion of CHIP repeatedly. I once discussed this subject with a top aid to one of our local State Senators when the legislature passed new rules that they knew would discourage parents form enrolling their children in the State CHIP program. He basically said that if the parents weren't willing to jump through these new hoops, like re-registering their children every six months, then they didn't deserve the aid. To which I replied "That logic would stand if the parents were getting the health care benefits but it is their helpless children who will do without the health care that their parents don't sign them up for". This type of thinking leads to further refrains such as those who say that these children will get good care in our emergency rooms. That is true in our pediatric hospital's emergency rooms and in those associated with academic medical centers but those are also the most expensive places to obtain any medical care. What could be dealt with in a $75 dollar office visit instead costs a minimum of $1500-$2000. Parents tend to wait until their children are much sicker before they take them to the E.R. and now a new study has shown that this has dire consequences in children.
"According to the Hopkins researchers, the study, to be published Oct. 30 in the Journal of Public Health, is one of the largest ever to look at the impact of insurance on the number of preventable deaths and the potential for saved lives among sick children in the United States....Using more than 23 million hospital records from 37 states between 1988 and 2005, the Hopkins investigators compared the risk of death in children with insurance and in those without. Other factors being equal, researchers found that uninsured children in the study were 60 percent more likely to die in the hospital than those with insurance. When comparing death rates by underlying disease, the uninsured appeared to have increased risk of dying independent regardless of their medical condition, the study found. The findings only capture deaths during hospitalization and do not reflect deaths after discharge from the hospital, nor do they count children who died without ever being hospitalized, the researchers say, which means the real death toll of non-insurance could be even higher.
"If you are a child without insurance, if you're seriously ill and end up in the hospital, you are 60 percent more likely to die than the sick child in the next room who has insurance,"says lead investigator Fizan Abdullah, M.D., Ph.D., pediatric surgeon at Hopkins Children's.
Thus it follows that if 17,000 children die needless deaths a year because of lack of insurance then Texas has the greatest number of such deaths per capita in the United States. That is a number Texan's should be ashamed of.
A Texas federal judge has a passel of problems. U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent pled guilty to obstruction of justice and will begin serving a 33 month prison sentence next week. Not the House Judiciary Committee has voted to impeach the judge 29-0, laying out four charges involving sexual misconduct with his staff. The impeachment process was begun as a result of Judge Kent's resignation allowing him to retain salary and benefits while in prison. If the bill of impeachment makes it through the house, the Senate would conduct the trial.
Texas Deferred Adjudication seems like a great systemn especially if you have received a traffic ticket or been caught for some minor infraction of the law such as public nudity or playing around with an adult in public. What is stunning is that the Texas Deferred Adjudication is also available to a repeat sex offender including indecency with a child, sexual assault, or aggravated sexual assault. Doesn't this seem a bit extreme? I know that court dockets are overtaxed but to allow a sexual predator to take advantage of deferred adjudication seems to be a bit lax.
Donna Keel is running for TX-HD 47. Does Travis County really need another keel in the legislature or any elected office? The last name alone is enough to make any thinking person in the Austin area cringe. Let's not forget that Donna would be under her father-in-law's thump, actually Tom Craddick's from the get go. Her family name and politics have been so tied to the worst extreme in Texas Republican Politics that there is no doubt where she would stand on any issue or who she would support for speaker of the house.
If you read SB 792, the bill that the legislature passed and Rick Perry signed into law, you will look in vain for any moratorium on the Trans-Texas Corridor. There is none. The bill does not impose any moratorium. It does not slow down in any conceivable way the planned rip-off of Texas farms and homes through the largest forcible eminent domain project ever conceived.
They are spinning thier "achievements" like crazy. I blogged on Turner's claims about CHIP and help for the electric bills of the poor this summer here.
Was it all worth it? Judged by their agenda, the record is decidedly
mixed. Even their harshest critics would have to concede that the
Craddick Ds wrung a few significant victories out of the session—most
notably passage of a bill that should add at least 100,000 kids to the
popular Children’s Health Insurance Program. But neither were they as
successful as they assert. Some of their highest-profile proposals went
nowhere, and they claimed undue credit for achievements on which they
had little input. Finally, it’s unknown whether a different speaker
would have addressed more of the state’s pressing problems. Four months
after the Craddick Ds re-elected a controversial speaker, the wisdom of
their bargain remains an open question.
Big guns used to kill electric utility reform
Lobby group that opposed the legislation included many with friends in high places
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — The lobbying that weakened and ultimately killed electric utility reform, clean-air legislation and regulation of the $45 billion buyout of TXU Corp. during the recent legislative session was a friend and family affair.
The public focus of the legislation has been on high electric rates and the multibillion-dollar buyout of TXU Corp. in Dallas. Lawmakers wanted to rein in high electric bills while the state's utilities fought anything that resembled renewed government control of a market that was deregulated in 1999.
Quick, what happens when you let incompetent, self-righteous, people with a bug up their ***, make public policy? Answer? Texas Public Policy. Most recent example: juvenile justice. Being too busy cutting taxes and such over the last several years, now the Texas Leg must do an emergency fix for Texas Youth Commission. Following a familiar pattern ( think public school funding, indigent health care) they punt the problem and the bill to the counties.
Plan to thin out TYC lockups draws fire Houston Chronicle
State legislation that would halt the sending of juveniles to Texas Youth Commission facilities for misdemeanor offenses would worsen overcrowding in Harris County's juvenile lockups, judges and local officials said Wednesday.
Most of the county's lockups are at or exceed capacity, and the county would have little room to absorb hundreds of youths now being sentenced to TYC for misdemeanor crimes each year, said state District Judge Mike Schneider, one of three juvenile court judges in the county.
Commissioner Steve Radack said the legislation would achieve state lawmakers' aim of thinning out TYC lockups, but would force counties to pay for detaining youths locally or to release dangerous offenders back into the community before they have been reformed.
"What we have here, once again, is the state of Texas has figured out a way to send another unfunded mandate to the counties," Radack said. "This will just put the problem on the taxpayers of Harris County."
Commissioners Court likely will ask voters in November to pay for additional detention space, but the new or renovated space probably would not be ready for at least two years.
The Texas House agreed to allow regulators to reduce prices for some residential electric customers, but the legislation was derailed before lawmakers could vote on whether the state can review the proposed record buyout of TXU Corp.
[snip]
(Dial 'er up, git 'er done. - promoted by boadicea)
Please contact members of the House Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism and express STRONG OPPOSITION to HB 2460 Author: Flynn Title: Relating to the continuation and functions of the Texas Commission on the Arts.
This bill calls for the abolition of the TCA. TCA was reviewed recently and the Sunset Review Staff found that the agency's mission is appropriate and meets valid needs of citizens of Texas. They found the Texas Commission of the Arts fulfills its goal to promote art throughout the State of Texas, serving the state both geographically and socio-economically with equity. Please object to any move to PRIVATIZE the Commission of the Arts, to abolish it, or to move it into the Governor's office. The Commission of the Arts is not broken. If more of the State's agencies earned the kind of performance reports like the recent Sunset Review Staff assessment of TCA, we'd have few problems in Texas. Don't mess with that which isn't broken! Urge the Committee to vote No on HB 2460 and not pass it out of committee.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
COMMITTEE: Culture, Recreation, & Tourism
TIME & DATE: 2:00 PM or upon final adjourn./recess
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
PLACE: E2.014
CHAIR: Rep. Harvey Hilderbran
The identical bill in the Senate is SB 901 filed by Sen. Bob Duell This bill doesn't mention moving the Commission of the Arts to the Governor's office, but during the Sunset Review Committee Hearing on TCA, one member stated that he wanted to see it privatized or moved into the Governor's Office. The Sunset Review Staff stated that their finding show no financial or operational benefit to moving the Commission of the Arts. Please contact your Representative and Senator and members of the Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee and state opposition to HB 2460 and Senate Bill 901. When you discuss this bill, also state that you oppose any move to either privatize or to move the agency. Art should be independent of politics.
House Committee on Culture, Recreation, & Tourism
Position Member
Chair: Rep. Harvey Hilderbran
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0536 District Phone: (830) 257-2333
Vice Chair: Rep. Edmund Kuempel
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0602 District Phone: (830) 379-8732
Budget & Oversight Chair: Rep. Dawnna Dukes
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0506
Members: Rep. Mark Homer
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0650
District Phone: (903) 784-0977 Rep. Donna Howard
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0631 District Phone: (512) 463-0631 Rep. Mike O'Day
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0707
District Phone: (281) 997-1103 Rep. Larry Phillips
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0297
District Phone: (903) 891-7297
I am reminded why context matters in making sense of anything, but especially in making sense of Texas politics and public policy. The sad story that is the subject of this blog involves another inmate who died in a Texas jail after...
...[the] jail doctor knew of Miranda's medical needs and failed to meet them.
From the Texas Observer Blog LINK a report on one key effort to change the House Rules regarding lobbyist access to the lege during debates.
[snip]
[House Democratic leader Drunnam's motion would:] ban lobbyists from the hallway behind the House chamber while lawmakers are debating bills. House rules already forbid lobbying in the places "adjacent" to the House floor. Of course, there's some dispute over which areas exactly fall under "adjacent." The back hall, behind the chamber, is closed to the public and most lobbyists. Some, however, have been reportedly spotted in the back hall or in the nearby speaker's office. Coincidentally enough, those lobbyists happen to be close to the speaker. Dunnam's proposal would have clarified the House prohibition on lobbying in the back hall. "There was unfortunately an owner's box in the Texas House last session and in 2003," Dunnam told the chamber. "Do you want to be on record saying that a registered lobbyist should have better access to the power of government than the general public?"
[snip]
Dunnam's amendment went down by an 83-59 count; that's notably similar to Tuesday's key vote in the speaker's race (80-68). It's a good bet we'll see those kinds of numbers a lot this session.
LINK Texas State Parks Advisory Committee Chairman and former state senator John Montford in April told the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission his committee recommends allocating the entire amount of state sporting goods sales tax to parks, a move which would effectively increase funding by about $85 million per year if appropriated by the Texas Legislature.
This is old news, but it is relevant again since the leg is back in session starting in January.
(One these days, I'll remember to post to the front page directly. - promoted by boadicea)
Terrelldemocrat had a question on the open thread a couple of days ago about an immigration reform organization quoted by one of the Lege candidates, Kemper "Bear" Gleason. I'm assuming he's the Democratic candidate, though I couldn't find any party affiliation on his website. The incumbent Republican is Betty Brown.
The organization he quotes on immigration issues is FAIR, Federation for American Immigration Reform, to whose site I will not link based on what I've found with my crack investigative staff (okay, Mr. Google and Mr. Yahoo).
If you'd like to read what I found out, join me on the flip.
